


Learning Curve

by ImpishFics



Series: Learning Styles [3]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Blow Jobs, Drinking, Friends to Lovers, Hand Jobs, M/M, Porn With Plot, Siblings Hwang Hyunjin & Hwang Yeji, Smut, because i love them, not enough to be tagged but man i love those ladies, porn with some feelings, some of the itzy girls show up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:34:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25557430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImpishFics/pseuds/ImpishFics
Summary: “Oh your skills?” Changbin asks, still smiling. They are closer now, and Hyunjin’s voice has a jovial gloating lilt, whiney and cute. Changbin isn’t used to being the one not whining but it’s kind of fun.“Mmmhmmmm,” Hyunjin nods, faux serious, “I got skills to pay the bills.” He tips his head forward inches from Changbin’s.“Then prove it,” Changbin whispers in the space between them, his eyes going half lidded, the smirk on Hyunjin’s face has gone from teasing to something else, anticipation maybe, as he leans a little closer. Their lips are centimeters apart, an almost kiss, something to build anticipation to make the contact even sweeter.Hyunjin’s phone buzzes, loud and obnoxious on Changbin’s coffee table, rattling against the wood.“You should probably get that.”
Relationships: Hwang Hyunjin/Seo Changbin
Series: Learning Styles [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1509668
Comments: 21
Kudos: 158





	Learning Curve

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is, the next installment in the Learning Styles series and you only had to wait nine months! *hides behind curtain* You don't need to have read the last two to understand this one but at least reading the previous on "Avoidance Learning" would likely help!
> 
> If you are curious about whats happening right now in the world [Here](https://getinformed.carrd.co/) is a helpful carrd and [Here](https://moreblminfo.carrd.co)  
> is one about BLM specifically.  
> As always BIG (haha see what I did there) thank you to Eli for reading this as I wrote it and cheering me on, as well as being my best friend!

The knocking at the door scares Changbin out of his thoughts. He has a few moments of nerves and a few more of dread when he thinks about who might be on the other side. 

The last few weeks Changbin’s tried to be a good friend. He _has_ been a good friend. Chan had his heart broken and Changbin has been doing his best to help him, going to meals together to make sure he eats them, working out with him so he doesn't overwork himself, listening to him rant for hours and hours, always saying “yes and” to all of Chan’s ideas. What they don’t tell you about improv is that it’s exhausting. Eating with him is fine and it’s good to see him, but the working out? He swears Chan is a different breed of human, how can someone deadlift 340 one day and then want to squat the next day? Chan doesn't believe in recovery days and all of Changbin’s muscles are screaming because of it. When Changbin isn't forcing his body past it’s breaking point he’s staring blankly at his laptop screen while Chan talks about Felix’s laugh. Or about his sex noises. It’s all a lot. It’s been a lot. 

Changbin trudges to the door and takes a breath, rolls his shoulders back and opens the door. 

“Oh thank god it’s just you,” Changbin breathes a sigh of relief already turning back to his apartment and wandering in. 

“Who were you expecting? The grim reaper?” Changbin can hear the smirk in Hyunjin’s voice. He sends him a look over his shoulder as he heads back to his couch. 

“You _know_ who I thought it would be,” Changbin says with a huff as he sinks back into his lumpy futon. 

“Yikes has Chris been bugging you too?” An ugly grimace lights up Hyunjin’s pretty features. 

“Not bugging, just very very clingy.”

“He is going through a lot right now..” Hyunjin trails off. 

“Yes, yeah, totally, and I want to support him but I have seen him every day for the last three weeks, and I love the guy but I'm going crazy!”

“How do you think I feel?” Hyunjin flopsdown next to Changbin, “I feel like I can't think anymore because he’s always there talking to me about how much he misses him, or what his pussy feels like” Changbin barks out a startled laugh, “Right? Like hello, I like pussy as much as the next guy but I really don’t need you describing our mutual friends clit to me in great detail!” 

“You know he’s said some more,” Changbin pauses looking for the word, “Graphic things to me” it’s Hyunjin’s turn to laugh with him. “But fortunately he’s spared me from vagina talk.” 

“Literally, I think he only talks about it with me and its so uncomfortable. He thinks it’s fine because Felix and I like hooked up or whatever freshman year, and I can sort of get that but Felix and I only ever made out!” Changbin’s laughing uncontrollably. “We drunkenly made out ONE TIME, and now I have to hear love sick Chan whine and moan about Felix’s apparently excellent pussy lips, THAT I HAVEN’T EVEN SEEN” Changbin is laughing in a wheezy desperate way, this tends to happen when Hyunjin gets going. “If I knew the kissing and light groping we had would result in this, I honestly would have passed,” by the time he finishes speaking he breaks out into giggles with Changbin. 

Changbin hits Hyunjin lightly, like a bro tap, or a declawed cat expressing distaste, “Dude you don’t mean that, that’s how we became friends!” 

“I guess, Felix really is such a fucking social butterfly huh?”

“He attracts doting men like flies to honey.” They both laughed at that, only a little bit at Jisung’s expense. He really is quite doting. 

“So, why did you decide to grace me with your presence at 9:00 on a Friday night?” Changbin asks, because really Hyunjin should be at a party, or at _least_ on a date or hanging out with someone with the intent to bang, not sitting on Chanbin’s lumpy couch. Dang. It really is lumpy. 

“What, was it your bedtime old man?” Changbin levels Hyunjin with a look.

“Answer the question you brat.”

“None of the parties sounded fun. There was like one that sounded okay. But it’s at my sister's school and all her friends are younger and also like. Like okay this is going to sound bad-” 

“Most of the things you say do, go ahead.” Hyunjin sticks his tongue out again. 

“All of her friends are either lesbians or bi, and like when im around straight girls I know what to do, voila I am the gay best friend, I know this role.” Changbin snickers, because Hyunjin does know that role, he can be exceedingly fake and when he thinks it’s what people expect of him he can transform into every stereotype people think he is: catty, slutty, an over dramatic affectation that he uses to insult them. It’s bitchy and righteous in a way only Hyunjin can be. “But these are not straight girls they don’t want me to be their gbf they just want me to be me, but then like under the pressure suddenly all I can think about is dicks!” 

Changbin laughs but Hyunjin continues, usually, in most social situations Changbin is the one that talks too much but he can’t talk too much if he’s too busy laughing at Hyunjin. “No, really! Like yeah I’m gay but I don’t like think about guys and cock and masculine energy 24/7, I swear I’m a normal human being capable of thoughts not related to male genetalia or manhood, but all of a sudden I’m in a situation with people who do not share my… proclivites and it’s all I can think about!” 

“I didn’t know you knew what proclivities meant, good for you.” Hyunjin ignores him, like he ignores almost everything out of Changbin’s mouth. 

“It’s like, I’m around straight dudes and I think about cock, but then it’s like a form of protest, I’m sticking it to the man! Like hey fuck you I love men! I love a man’s dick! I love a guy’s clit! I! Love! Men! But then I’m around Yeji’s sapphic gang, who I actually want to _like_ me and think im _decent_ and all of sudden my brain has one mode and its gay.” Changbin laughs at that. He doesn’t experience that, but also he’s pan, or bi depending on how much he feels like explaining, and so the problem hasn’t really come up. Still, he pats Hyunjin’s arm faux consolingly. 

“That must be so hard for you.”

“Fuck off,” Hyunjin says, but he leans Changbin’s space. Hyunjin gets too much action to act this touch-starved. “I also didn’t want to stay at home in case Chan showed up.” 

“And, Bingo, we have found the real answer.” 

“Does that make me a shitty friend?” Does it?

“I’m in no position to judge.” Hyunjin looks kinda sad, so Changbin continues, “I think I have like, three beers, and some of the kombucha that Felix’s friend makes.” Hyunjin makes a considering face. 

“Which friend? The rich one who plays video games and is some sort of streamer in China, or his poor poor roommate, or the one who works with kids and looks like one.” 

“The third one, the one that looks like a child but can bench more than you.” Hyunjin rolls his eyes at this, but Changbin knows it to be true, he has seen the kid when Changbin and Chan are at the gym and sure he’s not ridiculously strong but he’s nothing to shake a finger at either. Is that the expression? Changbin’s never been good at getting phrases right. Hyunjin makes another considering face. 

“Okay I want a beer and kombucha and I’m gonna mix them.” He looks very determined and continues. “Because beer is bad for your digestive system and Kombucha is good for your gut health so it will, like, balance out.” It definitely won’t but Changbin can’t say he isn’t curious. He splits the beer between two of his mugs, and fills the rest up with the kombucha.The mugs are the kind his dad gets him and his sister each year for christmas, a new weird matching design each year that he started getting them when Changbin turned nine and officially less likely to break mugs. He knows his sister still uses them, and that her fiance called Changbin when he accidentally broke one in a panic asking how he can get a new one. Both Changbin and his sister laughed at him. 

Hyunjin comments that he likes the mug, but how could he not, it looks like a pile of tires. His dad found it when he had a layover in one of those places that care about Nascar, it’s especially fun because Changbin’s dad can’t drive. He relies on the trains or planes or Changbin’s mom and later his own children to take him places. Changbin’s mom had taught him how to drive, and then gave him her old Civic when he graduated high school. He still drives it, even if the school parking sticker is a total rip off. 

Hyunjin _can’t_ comment that he likes the drink however, neither of them do, it is foul. But the kind of foul they keep drinking as they play video games. 

Hyunjin and Changbin decide to play Marvel vs Capcom because it’s the only game Changbin has that Hyunjin already knows the controls to. Which isn’t to say he’s any good: they both suck, but that's half the fun. Finally someone who also accidentally falls off the map every time they use a special attack. That being said it only takes Changbin beating Hyunjin’s Hawkeye with Chun-Li four times (not in a row because Hyunjin did win one match in between but it was short lived), before Hyunjin tosses the controller on the couch next to him and whines. 

“This isn’t fair, I was too busy being social and charismatic my whole life to get good at video games.” Changbin laughs, because he can tell this is a joke, it would make Changbin more uncomfortable if Hyunjin _didn’t_ acknowledge those aspects of himself, if he pretended to be some sort of outcast. 

“Felix has more sex than you and he’s better than both of us at video games.” Hyunjin just whines into the couch cushion, leaning his head on Changbin’s shoulder to press his face into the back of the couch. 

“That's not fair Felix is good at everything.” 

“Hyunjin you are literally a collegiate athlete.” Hyunjin waves a limp-wristed hand dismissively.

“Swimming doesn’t count, the season’s over.” Changbin laughs at Hyunjin but still pats his back consolingly. His broad back. Swimmer’s back. It isn’t swim season, during swim season Changbin barely gets to see Hyunjin, Hyunjin is either at practice or sinking all his free time into parties, the need to let loose builds until Changbin sees Hyunjin on the dancefloor, flecked in other people’s body glitter and sweat, drunk out of his mind and glued to the dance floor. Changbin sees Hyunjin on campus or at lunch sometimes or when Felix used to drag them, him and Chan, to Hyunjin’s meets where he would wait around for an hour to watch a race that was less than a minute long of Hyunjin doing butterfly. But now the season’s over, and Hyunjin is in Changbin’s apartment, whiny and warm, pressing his face into Changbin’s futon as the character select screen plays, ignored, in the background. 

“Hmmm, then I guess you’re right, Felix is better than you in every way.” Hyunjin whips his neck back, an indignant look on his face. 

“Yah!” It’s enough to make Changbin crack, he breaks into giggles at Hyunjin’s face and can’t stop. Hyunjin relaxes too, and giggles with Changbin. “Knew you were lying! Can’t deny my skills!” 

“Oh your skills?” Changbin asks, still smiling. They are closer now, and Hyunjin’s voice has a jovial gloating lilt, whiney and cute. Changbin isn’t used to being the one not whining but it’s kind of fun. 

“Mmmhmmmm,” Hyunjin nods, faux serious, “I got skills to pay the bills.” He tips his head forward inches from Changbin’s. 

“Then prove it,” Changbin whispers in the space between them, his eyes going half lidded, the smirk on Hyunjin’s face has gone from teasing to something else, anticipation maybe, as he leans a little closer. Their lips are centimeters apart, an almost kiss, something to build anticipation to make the contact even sweeter. 

Hyunjin’s phone buzzes, loud and obnoxious on Changbin’s coffee table, rattling against the wood. 

“You should probably get that.” Hyunjin whines and tries to move forward anyway but Changbin pulls back. “Could be important.” Hyunjin grumbles, he’s pouting but there's a blush high on his cheeks that Changbin thinks is beautiful. Hyunjin snatches up his phone and glares at the screen before answering. 

“Yeji now really isn’t- What?” Changbin watches as Hyunjin stands up and holds the phone tighter to his ear as he listens. 

“And you are?” He starts pacing now, except Changbin’s apartment isn’t quite large enough to pace so he’s just walking two or three large strides in each direction before walking back. 

“How much has she-” He’s cut off again. He stands stock still in the middle of Changbin’s living room listening intently with narrowed eyes. “Well I don’t know if I can, I mean I don’t have a car- Wait,” Hyunjin takes a breath, “give me one moment.” Hyunjin takes the phone away from his ear and turns to Changbin. 

“Can you drive me somewhere?” Changbin stands, already grabbing his keys from the kitchen counter.

“I can leave now.” Hyunjin nods gratefully and returns to the phone in his hand, 

“Okay we are on our way, text me the address.” 

They are already in the car for a few minutes when Hyunjin finally gets off the phone and heaves a huge sigh. 

“Doing okay over there?” Changbin doesn’t take his eyes off the road to ask. 

“Yeah,” Hyunjin sighs again, “yeah, I’m fine thank you so much for this.”

“So,” Changbin waited a beat and hit the brakes as a car in front of them swerved into their lane without a turn signal, “You gonna tell me what's up or…” Hyunjin laughs, a tired thing. 

“Yeah fuck sorry. I told you about my sister and her sapphic gang yeah?” Changbin nods, he can feel Hyunjin’s eyes on him as he looks at the road in front of them. “Well, what I didn’t tell you is that she’s a disaster and has a crush on not one but two of her friends.”

“Yikes.” 

“Like I said, disaster. Anyway, those two friends? They are on their first date tonight.”

“Double yikes.” 

“Exactly. And my amazing lovable genius sister decided she would drink her pain away and apparently now she’s really really smashed at some party just whining about these girls, and her friends she did go with, Chaeryeong and Heejin can’t send her home because, get a load of this, she’s roomates with one of the girls.” 

“Triple yikes.” 

“All the yikes. Anyway, so Chaeryeong called me and I guess. I guess I’ll figure something out.” Changbin grimaces, Hyunjin is in a triple with some guys from the swim team, not exactly ideal for letting a drunk and potentially hysterical sister crash. 

“Do you guys want to crash at mine?” Changbin can feel Hyunjin’s eyes on him but Changbin keeps his firmly on the road even though they are at a red light. “You two, or just her I guess, I don’t know, can take my bed. It’s a twin, and then I can, or we? Idontknow, can crash on my futon?” He says it in a rush, normally sharing a futon with a bro is nothing, but Changbin is acutely aware of the fact that they just almost kissed. 

“Is that okay?” 

“Of course.” 

“Is this because we just almost-” Changbin cuts him off. 

“No! God no Hyunjin, it’s because we are friends. I would do this for you anyway, we’re friends and your family needs help and it’s just a night, it’s nothing.” Changbin finally looks back at Hyunjin, tries to give him a glance that means something before looking back at the road for the green light. He feels Hyunjin’s gaze on him for a moment more before he hears him sigh. 

“You gotta take a right at the light.” Changbin changes lanes and then Hyunjin speaks up again, “Thank you.” 

“Don’t mention it.” A few more turns and a truly awful roundabout later, Changbin is parking his car a few blocks from frat row in the first available spot he sees. Hyunjin and him pile out of the car, and Changbin pulls his sleeves down, wishing he remembered a jacket instead of just wearing the thin long sleeve he had on. Hyunjin already has his phone out and to his ear, dialing Yeji’s friend and marching forward confidently, leading the way. 

Hyunjin looks like he could be going to a party. Hyunjin wouldn’t wear what he’s wearing now to a party, some black skinnies and a big white shirt, but anyone else would. When Hyunjin goes to parties he goes all out, his hair doing something other than just hanging in his face, freshly washed, his skin showing in artfully slutty ways, but now he just looks, well, normal. He still looks gorgeous. Changbin doesn’t really know which he prefers. 

Hyunjin picks up his pace, hurried long strides so that Changbin finds himself having to lightly jog just to catch up to him. Finally they know they’re in the right place because they can hear the thumping bass from a house close to the end of the block, but before they can even get their Changbin sees a girl with long brown hair and platform heels pacing the sidewalk with her ear to the phone. Hyunjin waves at her and she waves them over and suddenly Changbin is jogging again on sore legs. 

Hyunjin meets her first, phone forgotten in his hand, the girl ends the call from her device, Changbin was complaining about the chill but she must be even colder in a shirt that is mostly string with some sleeves tucked into leather pants. 

“Chae, thanks, Where is she?” Changbin makes out Hyunjin asking. The girl, who must be Chae, points to the lawn next to them where two girls are huddled together on the damp grass. Changbin can immediately tell which one is Hyunjin’s sister, with her hair pulled back and out of her face Changbin can clearly see the family resemblance. Something in the eyes and the nose and the way they carry themselves, even if she is obviously drunk and crying. and snivelling. 

Her friend helps Yeji stand up and Hyunjin approaches, Changbin can’t hear what he says to her but he can hear her loud response. 

“Who invited UGLY?” Hyunjin sighs and Changbin can’t help but laugh. Yeji’s eyes land on Changbin’s and she laughs with him, at her own joke. She takes a step forward and instantly Yeji’s friend, who’s gotta be Heejin, and Hyunjin are offering support she waves off as she stumbles to Changbin. 

“Ugly’s friend!!” Changbin is distinctly aware of the way she towers over him in her chunky platform heels, and her breath that smells like tequila and regret. 

“I’m Changbin? Are you Yeji?” 

“Nooooooooo,” she whines, throwing her arms around Changbin’s shoulders. Hyunjin makes a sound but Changbin just puts a hand in between her shoulder blades and starts guiding her in the direction of the car. He can hear Hyunjin talking to her friends but with the careful stumbling steps she's taking, and most of her weight on his shoulder, it’s gonna be a while. “Noooo Yeji is sadddd, I’m alternate universe Yeji.” 

“Oh alternate universe Yeji you say?” She nods emphatically and then pauses to put a hand in front of her mouth like she might puke before deciding she’s okay. 

“Yeah, what do you know about the multiverse theory?” Changbin guides her further down the block, catching her when she trips over a crack in the sidewalk. 

“I would know a lot more if you told me about it,” Changbin prompts and suddenly he has a very drunk girl explaining it to him. Or trying to, she gets pretty hung up on specifics. 

Changbin unlocks his car, beep beep, just as she concludes her thesis, “So, in an alternate universe I am kissing both Ryujin _and_ Jisu right now.” 

“Wow, that’s incredible.” 

“But also! In an alternate or paraleleel, parleeel, paraglen-”

“Parallel” Changbin interjects, she nods again. 

“Yes! That! In a parallel universe I am also much, much sadder and don’t even have them as friends.” 

“Oh no!” Changbin says with faux shock, spotting Hyunjin jogging around the corner to get to the car. 

“So in some ways, this universe is good.” And hey, she’s got a point. Maybe in a parallel universe Changbin and Hyunjin have already kissed, or have been kissing all night or maybe they are enemies. This one ain’t so bad. Yeji speaks up before Changbin, “Uh oh Ugly’s back.” 

“So does Yeji always call you Ugly or?” Changbin asks as a greeting. Hyunjin ignores him, which, rude, and turns his attention to Yeji. 

“Are you cool spending the night at Changbin’s with me?” Yeji considers this for a moment and nods emphatically, even more enthusiastic than before, and uh oh, Changbin knows what’s coming next. Hyunjin must know too because suddenly he’s in motion, taking Yeji’s arm from Changbin’s and pivoting her to a sorority’s lawn just in time for her to lose a couple drinks. The sounds are awful, like a broken sink or dying goose. Changbin gets in the car and starts it with the excuse of getting the heaters warmed up. He can still hear retching through the car doors. Yikes. 

Hyunjin maneuvers his sister into the backseat and sits with her there. Changbin bites his tongue to keep from making the predictable comment of feeling like a cab driver. Even so, he feels more like a Chauffeur. Ignoring Yeji’s currently debauched state, and given the niceness of their clothes and their overall appearance, they could be two young socialites out of an episode of Gossip Girl. Except less adultery and 2000’s fashion. Changbin watched four seasons with his sister when they got pneumonia when Changbin was in middle school. Yeji uses the corner of Hyunjin’s shirt to wipe off her drunken tears, smearing it with dark makeup, and Hyunjin pats his back despite looking mildly disgusted. Totally could fit in Gossip Girl. 

At the next redlight Changbin puts on a playlist he usually plays for studying, all weird video game instrumentals and pop songs mellowed out to be played on piano and ukelele, in the back seat the blubbering has mostly stopped but Changbin still tries not to listen in. Changbin gets on the exit ramp by their university, trying to take the turns extra careful to avoid triggering Yeji’s gag reflex anymore but when he rolls to a stop at the red light and glances in the rearview he finds Yeji asleep on her brother’s shoulder. 

Hyunjin’s eyes catch his in the reflection, glinting in the lights from the cars on the road way. He looks tired, and still wound from residual stress but warm, a soft smile on his lips. Changbin smiles back, and Hyunjin’s grin only grows. His eyes are so wide and dark, and his lips are full and they almost kissed. They almost kissed. Hyunjin has the prettiest lips, even if they say the most idiodic things, they are mouthing something now, through his little smirk, ‘Green.’ Changbin snaps out of it, blushing as he hits the gas, he can hear Hyunjin’s quiet chuckles in the backseat. Jerk. 

It turns out getting a sleeping drunk Yeji out of the back seat is easier than getting an actively unhelpful drunk Yeji into the backseat. Changbin opens the door (‘like a chauffeur,’ his lizard brain whispers), and lifts her under her arms, like a ragdoll cat, just long enough for Hyunjin to scramble out and position himself to carry her. He tries to carry her bridal style, he really does and Changbin doesn’t laugh at him. Okay, he laughs a little, but not a lot, and helps Hyunjin transfer her to a fireman's carry. Hyunjin doesn’t want to make Changbin carry his sister, which, fair, but Changbin’s heart stops every time Hyunjin almost trips over the side walk or takes a particularly staggering step on the walk from the parking lot to Changbin’s apartment.

Hyunjin sighs deeply when they get into the elevator and Changbin presses the button for his floor and lets out a sigh of his own when Hyunjin rests some of his weight on the wall.

“Do you want me to-” 

“I got it.” Silence hangs in the air for a moment before they are both giggling. The night is catching up with them, the day is catching up with them, the last month of their lives is catching up with them. And god it’s just so funny. 

The elevator dings and opens to Changbin’s floor, and there, in front of Changbin’s door like some sort of ghostly spector meant to scare children is Changbin’s very best friend. 

“Without me?” And of course that's the first thing Chan asks, drunk in front of Changbin’s door at God knows what hour in the night. Fuck Changbin sounds like his dad. “Guyyyyys You ditched me.” 

Yeji stirs on Hyunjin’s shoulder and Hyunjin whispers, but the kind of whisper that's actually quite loud and sharp, “We didn’t have plans. Also shhhhhh!” 

“You guys hung out without me? Guys, come on!” Chan is not using his inside voice, in fact Changbin wouldn't be shocked if Chan is waking his neighbors. Changbin shoulders past Chan and unlocks his door for Hyunjin. 

“Here you can put Yeji in my bed,” Changbin says to Hyunjin, quietly, “Help yourself to anything you need.” Hyunjin nods and pauses in front of the door looking back at Chan but Changbin just shakes his head. Hyunjin steps inside the apartment Chan makes to follow Hyunjin but Changbin stops him with a hand to the shoulder. 

“Dude.” 

“What?” 

“I love you but please. Just. Chan, go home.” Chan is drunk, but Chan isn’t some irrational drunk, he doesn’t get mean or anything, he’s not beyond reason or at least Changbin doesn’t think he is. 

“I don’t want to. You guys are all I have.” 

“That's not fair Chan.”

“You’re right! It’s not! It’s not fair! Fuck Jisung and and-” Changbin rolls his eyes. It’s so late and his body is already sore from working out with Chan and this is sore too, like an old bruise. Watching Chan trying to work his way up to cursing out Felix, and he will in some righteous anger that will only make him sadder. It’s rude to poke at a bruise. 

“Just go home Chan!” Silence falls on the hallway. Or maybe Chan just fucking shuts up for a minute. Changbin runs his hand down his face. “Just go home, haven’t you done enough already? Aren’t you tired?” Changbin is so tired. 

“Aren’t you going to….” Chan’s eyes are caught somewhere near Changbin’s sneakers. 

“I’m going inside.”

“I don’t want to go home,” Chan says, in a desperate voice and Changbin loves him and feels sorry for him, Chan is his brother but it's just too much.

“Then go somewhere else, but you can’t be here. I’ll text you tomorrow.” And Changbin steps back and shuts the door. 

He takes the mother of all sighs. One of those sighs that really incorporates every part of the body even tangentially related to the respiratory system. He takes a few more. Hyunjin wanders out of Changbin’s room and isn’t that a sight. Hyunjin sheepishly closes the door and gives Changbin a look, like the kind parents make over their kid’s head but Hyunjin’s making it to Changbin and even weirder Changbin gets it. ‘She’s asleep. I’m sorry about this,” the look says. 

“Can I use your shower?” Hyunjin asks, not quite a whisper, and not intentionally quiet but the night is getting to them. So Changbin shows Hyunjin the shower and gets him his one spare towel and laughs at Hyunjin when he accidentally sprays himself with hot water. 

Changbin sneaks into his own room to grab clothes from the dresser but Yeji is out cold. He grabs Hyunjin a shirt, his clean pajamas some shirt from a middle school event that was too big when he got it for free and is still too big now, and a pair of basketball shorts because his pants have no chance of fitting. For himself he picks one of his more conservative home-cut muscle shirts, because he gets hot in his sleep but thinks having his nipples out might be a bit presumptuous, and some clean boxers. It feels a little scandalous changing in his livingroom, which is stupid because it’s just a room, so he laughs at his own bashfullness at changing in front of his TV. 

Changbin can still hear the sound of the water in the shower so he grabs the sheets he hasn’t used since his older sister visited and unfolds the futon and tries to make the bed. He can't find the fitted sheet for some reason so he tries to tuck the top sheet in so that the job still gets done. He has one spare pillow and the throw pillows from his couch but it’ll be fine. At least his spare blanket is a king size blanket so there's plenty to go around. 

The water shuts off in the bathroom as Changbin finishes making up the bed and he scrambles to sit on it on his phone, trying to look casually and not like some creep waiting for Hyunjin to get out of the bathroom. Not that he _is_ waiting for Hyunjin, he just happened to finish then but he would totally look like one if he just like- this is exactly what Changbin is afraid of. He opens instagram and lets stories play across his screen that he’s not even watching as he hears the door open for Hyunjin to grab the clothes before it closes again. Changbin’s brain is a constant screaming match between the most immature parts of himself, ‘Holy Fuck He’s Naked’ vs. ‘shut up you look so weird right now’. Louder than both of those voices is a softer one, ‘Is Hyunjin doing okay?’ 

The door opens again and Changbin looks up before he can stop himself. Hyunjin is squeaky, Changbin’s wall sconces don’t throw much light but what they do catches in Hyunjin’s dark hair curling on his neck. His skin is flushed, it was a hot shower if the steam coming from the doorway is anything to go by. The shirt is too big on Hyunjin too, which is oddly comforting. 

“I don’t smell like puke anymore.” 

“Congratulations.” And the spell is broken, Hyunjin laughs with Changbin as he walks over in damp bare feet that leave foggy prints on Changbin’s cheap floor. Hyunjin sits on the bed and Changbin gets up, just to turn off the sconces, he’s too lazy for the bathroom light so he leaves it on and returns to the futon where Hyunjin has already burrowed into the big purple blanket he bought with gift card to Bed Bath and Beyond his aunt got him. “I’m really glad you don’t smell like puke anymore.” 

“Trust me, me too,” Hyunjin mumbles through the fabric, when Changbin chuckles he continues, “I swear smelling rank is far worse for you than the people around you because you’re never not aware of the fact you smell like vomit.” 

“I’ll take your word for it.” Hyunjin peeks his head out just to roll his eyes at Changbin’s little smirk. Changbin wants to pet down his tuft of hair sticking out, so in a flash of bravery, he does. Hyunjin smiles lazily and leans into it like a cat, closed eyes and all. Changbin transitions to scratching his scalp, scritching at the damp roots. 

“Thank you for everything.” Soft in the night. 

“Of course.” Hyunjin’s eyes flash open, sure and piercing. 

“Not of course. This wouldn’t be of course for a lot of people Changbin,” one of Hyunjin’s hands snakes out from the duvet to brush across Changbin’s forearm, “this is of course for you.” Hyunjin takes a breath, “Because you’re you,” His hand brushes up to Hyunjin’s biceps and it takes all of Changbin’s brain power to resist flexing under Hyunjin’s beautiful wandering fingers, “Because you are sturdy and dependable and kind,” and then even quieter after a moment, “I wish I could be more like you.” 

“Do you know how many times I’ve thought that about you?” Hyunjin closes his eyes again. 

“I’m scared to hear why.” Without thinking Changbin brings his hand from Hyunjin’s hair to his face, he brushes his thumb from the gentle slope of Hyunjin’s nose across smooth flushed cheeks, the way he might if Hyunjin was crying. But he’s not, there’s no room for tears on this almost bed. This almost bed like their almost kiss, like the countless ‘almosts’ Changbin feels when he looks at Hyunjin. 

“It’s not that you're gorgeous. If that's what you were expecting.” Hyunjin’s breathing pauses and restarts, something Changbin wouldn’t notice if he wasn’t watching every change in Hyunjin’s face. “I’ve never wanted to look like you. I’ve wanted to look different, be more handsome but I never wanted to look like you, which isn’t to say you're not beautiful but that's not the part of you I think about emulating.”

Changbin lets his thumb trace the barely present curve of Hyunjin’s cupid bow, the way it nearly barely bends but is still so perfect. “You lighten every room, there's something about it, I don’t know. But you smile, and you laugh, and suddenly everyone else realizes that they can too, you make everyone around you breathe easier. People want to be closer to you like a pull.” 

Changbin brushes Hyunjin’s lower lip and it puckers slightly, the ghost of a kiss to his thumb. “I think somewhere along the way maybe you, maybe someone else, made you think that people want to be with you for certain reasons. But I think you missed the biggest reason. People are selfish, and they like to feel good, and just you, you make people feel good. You are what people look to, not because your perfectly straight nose or white teeth, because you have a way of making everyone around you feel more beautiful too.” Hyunjin’s eyes blink open and they look wet, so Changbin wraps it up. “I want that. And I might never get it, because I’m not you.” 

“Fuck you.” Hyunjin says, but Changbin can tell it’s a joke, he wipes the tear that does fall in an echo of his earlier patterns. “This night has been so much.” 

“Too much?” Changbin asks. He doesn’t feel the overwhelming nerves he felt waiting for Hyunjin to get changed. Now, huddled closer in the dim light cast from the bathroom, with Hyunjin’s warm skin so close and their voices hushed Changbin isn’t so worried. But that doesn’t mean he’s certain. 

“I don’t know.” Hyunjin’s not crying. One tear doesn’t constitute crying, but still Changbin wipes Hyunjin’s cheeks even as they stay dry. A comforting repetitive motion. “Maybe, but I think college has sort of- I don’t know- deadend the sensation. Like. I know I feel tired, and maybe I’ll look back on this and it will feel crazy. But right now I’m just warm, and tired.” 

“Things don’t stop huh? It just keeps happening and there’s no breaks.” 

“I could sing that All Star line at you right now. I’m not going to but just know that I could.” Changbin bites his lip to stop a smile. 

“I appreciate your restraint. And I appreciate your honesty.” Hyunjin smiles, small and hiding his teeth. 

“I appreciate your honesty too. I feel like we are talking like a marriage counseling session.”

“Hey, what’s the problem with direct and appreciative communication?” Hyunjin laughs then, louder and then quieter, decrescendo. 

“Nothing! Nothing, I guess.” Changbin tucks some of Hyunjin’s hair behind his ear, and then does it again and again as the baby hairs keep escaping. “What did you think of Yeji?” 

“I think she’s a lot of fun and that I’m excited to meet her sober. And that she’s lucky to have you as a brother.” 

“She always says i'm too protective.” Hyunjin’s hand squeezes Changbin’s bicep and and the muscles jump under the skin in a mini-flex that makes Hyunjin grin. 

“Well are you?”

“Yeah.” Changbin laughs at the admission. “I know I am, it’s good that we go to different schools because I _know_ I can be overbearing. I definitely was in high school.” 

“I mean, I know I met her drunk out of her mind, but she seems smart, like she’s got a good head on her shoulders and can take care of herself for the most part.” Hyunjin smiles wrily. 

“She can. She’s way smarter than me, and she knows what to do, it’s like every situation she has a back up plan.” 

“So what's the issue? Are you some sort of chauvenist gay?”

“No. Or at least, I don’t think so. When we were young, in middle school, Yeji -” Hyunjin makes a face and Changbin tickles under his chin so it doesn’t stick, “Yeji, she got sick. Really really sick. She had to stay in the hospital for most of a year and after that she was in and out for another year and she’s fine now. She’s fine, she gets sick less than me and she can probably run faster than me and all that. But, I don’t know. Something about seeing her, seeing anyone you love like that, laying in a bed surrounded by doctors and machines and our parents.” Hyunjin takes a breath, and for a second Changbin thinks he might sit up, so Changbin lays down next to him. Curled on his side and facing him, curling into each other like parenthesis trying to complete a thought. “I just don’t ever want to see her like that again and I think she knows that.” 

“You’re a really good brother.” 

“What’s your sister like?” 

“Smarter than me, and she plays DnD and builds the sets of community productions for children's theater.” 

“She sounds cooler than you.” Changbin smiles at that. 

“She is.” Hyunjin smiles and Changbin thinks about how at peace he looked earlier and so he blinks his own eyes closed. “Tell me a story.” 

Hyunjin laughs. “Does it have to be a sister related story?” 

“No. Tell me about when you realized you love to swim.” Changbin doesn’t need to have his eyes open to picture Hyunjin’s smile stretching across his face.

“Mom always says I was always drawn to the water. I was one of those kids who accidentally almost killed themselves a lot. I just didn’t know to be afraid of things.” Changbin can picture that, a baby Hyunjin toddling off a diving board without fear, stepping into the road. “I can’t count the amount of times I almost drowned. I think at a certain point they just had to sign me up for swimming classes, way earlier than the other kids, just as a fail safe to keep me alive.” 

Hyunjin keeps talking, about when swimming went from just feeling freeing to being something he could do competitively, when the rush from winning became something he chased. When he realized he wanted to do butterfly, because it was the weirdest and the most difficult and the hardest to make look cool. Changbin chuckles at that and Hyunjin makes him trade stories of his own. Changbin didn’t really do sports in highschool, but he can tell Hyunjin about his embarrassing first time performing on stage, or when his mom found his journal of half finished raps and confronted him about it, asking him to explain them. There’s really only so many ways to say, “Mom, I may be sad and gay but I swear I’m fine,” to you’re own mother. 

And then they are just talking about highschool, and Hyunjin’s first boyfriend (a jerk), and Changbin’s first kiss (not until he was seventeen) and Hyunjin’s first time (overly intense and romantic for a one night stand) and Changbin shares air and space with Hyunjin in this moment and the memories of past ones. Consciousness is slipping away and they both know it, so Changbin opens his eyes and crowds in just a little closer. 

“What was your first time like?” Hyunjin whispers after a moment, a moment where Changbin forgets what they are talking about. 

“Messy. I don’t think he really understood condoms. It took a couple of tries, but it was really sweet.” Hyunjin grins. He is so, so pretty it’s insane that he’s right here. He says that much and Hyunjin laughs but it’s half a yawn. 

“I’m right here. Kiss me in the morning.” 

“Deal.” And Changbin falls asleep.

When he was younger he had a lot of nightmares about being buried in bugs, ants specifically. At first they would just be crawling all over him imperceptible brush against his limbs in the dark that was tens, then hundreds, and thousands of arthropods crawling all over him their weight building in ways they don’t in real life. In his childhood brain the way ants combine together to lift incredibly heavy objects meant they had to have a weight in numbers that grows unimaginably and exponential to their actual weights. He would be immobile in his dreams, frozen unable to resist as the ants crushed him, broke his femurs and his ribs and then they would get to his head and he wouldn’t be able to breath without them filling his mouth and eating him from the inside out like termites. 

It’s safe to say Changbin never owned an ant farm. Still, for years as a child he would wake up kicking off the blankets and pillows in a panic, unable to stomach the idea of any weight on his body. 

But here, in the night, Changbin curls tighter into Hyunjin’s warmth, burrows under the comforting weight of the blanket. “Isn’t it funny,” Changbin thinks in the last breath of consciousness before falling back under the throws of sleep, “how sometimes the things that felt so suffocating start to feel comforting in adulthood?” And Changbin falls asleep. 

Changbin wakes with the need to piss so intense he thinks he might wet the bed for the first time as an adult. He doesn’t, thankfully, he makes it to the bathroom in time to relieve himself and flush and wash his hands and accidentally splash his neck and shirt with water in the process. He looks at his reflection afterward. His shirt is partially see-through where the water got him, enough to show one dark nipple but obscure his chest acne and the scar that sort of fucks up his other nipple. It’s tasteful. His eyes and cheeks are puffy with sleep and his hair sticking together with sweat in the way that wouldn’t be there if he had taken his normal shower before bed. His breath is rank, that at least he can fix, so he brushes his teeth even though he’s just going to go back to bed. 

He turns off the bathroom light afterward, and silently cursed his earlier laziness for the sake of his electricity bill. His eyes take a moment to adjust to the dark, which he blames for the small gasp of shock he releases when he sees the outline of Hyunjin sitting up on the futon in the dark. 

“Did I scare you?” Hyunjin whispers, his voice is a hoarse raspy thing. Changbin just smiles and wanders closer. 

“Yes, and I don’t think I’ll ever recover, I’ll be suing you for the damages.”

“What time is it?” Hyunjin asks, so Changbin blindly grabs his phone from the ground and blearily blinks at the bright numbers. 

“Uhh, three thirteen.” He blinks to get his eyes to adjust in the darkness and see Hyunjin’s face. 

“It’s morning Changbin.” It, embarrassingly, takes a moment to register and then _oh_.

Changbin moves before he’s even sure he knows where Hyunjin’s lips are, and it’s a small miracle he finds them, but he finds them and Hyunjin kisses him with something sleepy and musty and absolutely magnetic. Hyunjin’s lips are just as big and soft as they look, intoxicating against Changbin’s own, sucking just enough on his lips to be electrifying without exposing Hyunjin’s oral fixation they both know he has. Hyunjin falls back into the nest of the undone sheet and blanket and pulls Changbin on top of him, pulling him into the warmth that still smells of both of them. 

Changbin situates his legs on either side of Hyunjin’s hips and jolts when Hyunjin’s hands slip into the gaps of his tank to splay across his ribs. His hand’s aren’t cold but they make Changbin shiver, and Hyunjin breaks the kiss to whisper. 

“I’ve been wanting to do this since I got out of the shower.” Changbin kisses him again to retort. 

“I’ve been wanting to do this all night.” Hyunjin pulls Changbin back down again with that hands on his bare skin into a long languid kiss. As Hyunjin moves against Changbin, his long fingers skate from his ribs down a muscled back, scratching lightly at his spine and resting at the small of Changbin’s back. Hyunjin tries to speak into Changbin’s lips, not pausing enough to be coherent and so Changbin pulls back to ask, “What?” 

“I’ve been wanting to do this since you came to my swim meet.” 

“Really?” Changbin is shocked by the vulnerability in his own voice. 

“Ever since I got out of the water and saw you guys in the stands afterward.” He bites his lip, its puffy from Changbin’s attention, “Is that weird?” 

“No,” Changbin saves Hyunjin’s lip from his teeth with his thumb and Hyunjin kisses it, “because I’ve wanted you for so long.” 

“How long?” It’s muffled slightly by Changbin’s thumb, which Hyunjin kisses again, licking it slightly. Oral fixation. 

“I never thought to mark my calendar. Not an exact date, but. About since then, longer probably, it felt so fake for some reason, like such a fantasy I didn’t really consider it.”

“It’s real.” 

“Is it real past tonight?” Changbin asks, this time the vulnerability in his voice isn’t so surprising but it’s still more raw than he would want it to be. But it’s three in the morning, and Hyunjin is so warm underneath him. 

“God I hope so.” Changbin sinks back into Hyunjin after that, licking into him and letting his warm hands trail all over his back and sides through the holes in his shirt, like hands wiping away condensation in a shower to make pictures in the glass. Hyunjin is restless, exploring every inch of Changbin slipping his long fingers into the waistband of Changbin’s boxers and up to play with Changbin’s nipples. Changbin doesn’t have that sensitive of nipples but based on the way he frequents Changbin’s he’s willing to bet Hyunjin does. 

His suspicions are confirmed when Hyunjin practically squeaks when Changbin thumbs his through his t-shirt. Then Changbin remembers. 

“Shhh your sister,” Changbin whispers into the air between them as Hyunjin catches his breath.

“She sleeps like the dead.” Hyunjin mumbles before latching back onto Changbin with a new ferocity. Changbin slips his hands under Hyuunjin’s shirt to play with his nipples in earnest, they _are_ sensitive, sensitive enough for Hyunjin’s hands to be taking hold on Changbin’s ass and for his hips to be bucking against Changbin’s. 

Hyunjin pulls back to take off his shirt and Changbin rids himself of his own, not like it obscured much anyway. 

“God, those shirts should be criminal.” Hyunjin says, his eyes glint wide and hungry in the dark, and Changbin gets the odd sense that Hyunjin can see better than him. Oh well, it’s not like he can see well enough to see Changbin’s blush anyway. 

“Would you rather I be half naked all the time?” 

“Actually I would,” Hyunjin says, pulling Changbin back on top of him. Hyunjin seems to like having Changbin on top of him, like a glorified weighted blanket but Changbin doesn’t mind because feeling Hyunjin underneath him, responding to every sensation is intoxicating. Hyunjin’s hands are everywhere, on his back, on his sides, on his ass over his boxers, on his ass under his boxers. 

“Impatient.” Changbin pants into Hyunjin’s neck in response to Hyunjin snapping the waistband of Changbin’s boxers. 

“Efficient,” Hyunjin argues. Changbin laughs instead of disagreeing and lets Hyunjin help him out of his boxers. He feels his eyes bulge when Hyunjin takes off the shorts Changbin lent him and reveals nothing underneath. Just miles of pale skin in the moonlight and the bob of Hyunjin’s thick cock. Changbin wants that in his mouth. 

“I want you in my mouth.” Changbin says, because he can’t think of a reason not to. 

“Fuck, don’t let me stop you.” Hyunjin says, sounding vaguely winded, like he just ran a distance or got out of the pool, it has pride simmering in Changbin’s core with his arousal. He’s the reason Hyunjin is like this, hard and wanting and winded. Puffy lips, glinting with sweat, and flushed red at the tip of his perfect cock. 

Changbin maintains eye contact with Hyunjin as he lowers himself down his long body, laying warm open mouth kisses wherever he wants, right about his navel, his left hip bone, his right thigh. He cups Hyunjin full balls in one hand and presses a kiss to them too before taking the head of Hyunjin’s cock in his mouth. 

It’s a good dick, a very good dick, Changbin decides, one that feels just as good in his mouth as it looks. Full and thick and pulsing when he hollows his mouth and tongues at the frenulum. Hyunjin gasps and gasps again to cut off what might have been another squeal from his own lips. Hyunjin is so cute. Changbin decides this as he takes Hyunjin’s cock into his throat, it’s a tight fit, it’s never easy but Hyunjin’s bigger than anyone Changbin’s had in a while. 

Changbin can’t really breathe with Hyunjin’s cock in his throat, but he’s not hurting for air yet, he blinks past tears and plays with Hyunjin’s balls a little to distract himself. They are soft, and the hair there is trimmed short and neat, it tickles Changbin’s hand right back as he tickles them, sending Hyunjin closer and closer. 

Changbin pulls up to breathe (and cough) and lets his hand move over Hyunjin’s now spit-slicked length. He looks at Hyunjin, debauched and panting and he thinks about how this was supposed to be a sleepy make out, not him wrecking his throat just to feel all the ways Hyunjin can go tense. And then Changbin proceeds to take Hyunjin as far as he can and start bobbing, in order to wreck his throat a little bit more. 

Whatever, his raps sound sexier when his voice is sore anyway. 

Changbin keeps his rhythm, if he even has one, bobbing and deep throating Hyunjin until he needs to pull up for air to jerk him for a bit. He never lets go of Hyunjin’s balls, continues giving them attention throughout, it takes up his hands and stops him from getting to play with Hyunjin’s nipples but the way it makes Hyunjin’s stomach flutter and his breath catch in his throat is worth it. Maybe Hyunjin is just sensitive all over. What a delicious thought. 

Changbin takes Hyunjin back into his throat and places one hand on Hyunjin’s hip to keep it down when he feels them tense. He can tell Hyunjin is putting a lot of focus into not accidentally fucking into Changbin’s throat and he’s grateful for that, also because if Hyunjin’s focusing so much on that he can’t put all his attention on holding off his own orgasm. 

With his hand on Hyunjin’s balls he can feel them tighten. He pulls up until just the head rests in his mouth and sucks hard, tounging at the sensitive spot under the tongue and feels the exact moment Hyunjin falls over the edge. Hyunjin moans high and desperate and tenses all over before releasing into Changbin’s mouth. Changbin swallows and swallows and swallows all of Hyunjin’s cum. It’s salty and bitter and Changbin isn’t surprised because he’s seen the shit Hyunjin eats, but he savors it still, because it’s Hyunjin’s. 

Hyunjin tugs at Changbin’s hair to pull him off, always so sensitive, and pulls him up to Hyunjin’s mouth instead. Hyunjin seemingly couldn’t care less about the taste on Changbin’s tongue for the way he kisses him lazily. He pulls back, only to make eye contact with Changbin as he spits in his palm before bringing it down and wrapping it around Changbin’s length. 

Changbin tried to keep kissing as Hyunjin stroked him but it was just too much, too distracting and he’s been aching for so long. Changbin found himself panting into Hyunjin’s lips as Hyunjin kissed and sucked on his lower lip lazily. If Hyunjin’s lips were lazy his fist was anything but, with a tight fist and quick twisting strokes and just enough friction to be overwhelming. Changbin found himself thrusting into Hyunjin’s fist and grunting softly before not too long.

Hyunjin’s other hand snuck around and grabbed his ass to help in thrust and Changbin could feel his own orgasm building. Suddenly Hyunjin bit down on Changbin’s lower lip and two fingers pressed hard at his perineum as Hyunjin’s hand twisted over the head of his dick and Changbin was cumming, streaking both of their stomachs with his cum. 

Changbin feels like something stuffed with cotton balls afterward. Not a single thought in his head besides “holy fuck,” and “Hyunjin warm and good.” It takes every single neuron in his head firing for him to gather enough brain power and energy to find his boxers at the foot of the futon and bring them between them to wipe the spunk off their torsos. He throws it to the floor and giggles with Hyunjin at the sound they make hitting the hardwood and wraps his arms around Hyunjin’s neck to press his face into his neck adn go back to being a Changbin shaped weighted blanket. Hyunjins hands loop together at the small of Changbin’s back. 

“Goodnight Binnie” Hyunjin says somewhere above Changbin’s ear, but Changbin’s already far too asleep to do anything other than hum in response. Changbin falls asleep to the rumble of Hyunjin’s chest as he giggles.

Changbin wakes to a different rumble, the sound of Hyunjin shaking the edge of the futon and whispering, “it’s an earthquake Changbin, wake up it’s an earthquake.” 

Without opening his eyes Changbin mumbles back, “we don’t get earthquakes here idiot.” 

When Hyunjin speaks it’s a little louder, “You never know with climate change.” 

Changbin cracks one eye open and looks sideways to Hyunjin next to the futon. “You sound too happy about that.” Hyunjin laughs and even if Changbin is still groggy he can’t help but smile too. “What time is it?” 

“Almost nine, I figured I better wake you so you can shower before Yeji gets up.” Hyunjin smiles bashfully, “and I don’t understand your coffee maker.” Changbin laughs at him and sits up, and fails to summon the self consciousness he should feel about being naked in front of Hyunjin in the daylight. 

“The truth comes out.” 

“I’m a coffee addict, now's your chance to dodge this.” Hyunjin says it like a joke but something in his voice betrays vulnerability. 

“Nice try, like I'm letting you go so easy.” The smile that comes next is full of something beautiful and tender, something like affection and hope. Changbin hops in the shower, a quick one just to scrub his hair and wash himself, he doesn’t bother shaving the stubble hoping he can get by another day. The hot water feels amazing on his sore limbs, and his chest no longer being sort of sticky makes him feel one thousand percent more human. 

When he gets out he sends Hyunjin into his room to get them clothes in case Yeji wakes up (he doesn’t want her first sober memory of him to be him in his towel) and starts the coffee. He picks out three mugs, one with a pretty blue and orange repeating pattern his dad found in Morocco, one that changes from a picture of the ocean to a picture of the stars when heated and one shaped like a cat head. The first two he fills with coffee (and a little milk and sugar for the second) for himself and Hyunjin, and fills the third with water for Yeji. 

Hyunjin emerges from the room and Changbin trades him over sugared coffee for his own clothes. He quickly puts on the sweat pants and muscle tank Hyunjin hands him only giving him a little flack for the muscle shirt. Hyunjin looks adorable in all of Changbin’s clothes. Not because they are too big for him or anything like that, but just because he’s Hyunjin in Changbin’s clothes. It’s so sickeningly corny Changbin could puke.

Hyunjin teases him as Changbin packs up the futon and Changbin teases him when Hyunjin has to add _more_ sugar to the coffee Changbin made him. Yeji comes out of the bedroom looking sleep-rumpled and shy in a shirt Hyunjin must have given her from one of his drawers and last night's pants. 

“Good morning.” She says and man she sounds like she had a _rough_ night, which - Changbin supposes she did. Hyunjin just laughs at her like a horrible brother but Changbin gets up and hands her the mug full of water and some Ibuprofen. 

“This might help.” Yeji takes it gratefully and pops two of the blue capsules and chugs the water. 

“Thanks. Changbin yeah?” Oh nice, Changbin was worried she might not remember meeting her. 

“The one and only.” Changbin says going to the kitchen refill their cups with more coffee and water respectively. 

“Hyunjin’s boyfriend?” Yeji asks and Changbin stiffens for a moment before glancing at Hyunjin, who's looking at him with raised eyebrows and a smile. Changbin can’t help but smile back at the dumb look on Hyunjin’s face. 

It’s Hyunjin who turns to his sister and says, “Yeah, the one and only.” Changbin laughs as he pours more coffee and hears Yeji groan at her brother. It’s going to be a good day.

**Author's Note:**

> Man! What a journey it has been to get here. Thank you to all the people who stuck with this series, I know this wasn't really the update a lot of people wanted but trust me when I say it had to happen. We will see whats up with Chan in the next installment which will come ???eventually??? In the mean time I am a part of FOUR (f o u r) fic fests, NCT trans fic fest, Nohyuck fic fest, SKZ fuck fest and SKZ spookfest so be on the look out for those, but I might pop in here with a one-shot again soon too! Thank you so much for reading about these fools <3 Sending love wherever you are!!!
> 
> As always heres my info:  
> [Mytwitter (minors dni)](https://twitter.com/translixie)  
> [CC for yelling](https://curiouscat.me/translixie)


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